The Effects Of Race On Sentencing In Capital Punishment Cases

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The Effects of Race on Sentencing in Capital Punishment Cases

The Effects of Race on Sentencing in Capital Punishment Cases

    Throughout history, minorities have been ill-represented in the criminal
justice system, particularly in cases where the possible outcome is death. In
early America, blacks were lynched for the slightest violation of informal laws
and many of these killings occurred without any type of due process. As the
judicial system has matured, minorities have found better representation but it
is not completely unbiased. In the past twenty years strict controls have been
implemented but the system still has symptoms of racial bias. This racial bias
was first recognized by the Supreme Court in Fruman v. Georgia, 408 U.S. 238
(1972). The Supreme Court Justices decide that the death penalty was being
handed out unfairly and according to Gest (1996) the Supreme Court felt the
death penalty was being imposed “freakishly” and “wantonly” and “most often on
blacks” Several years later in Gregg v. Georgia, 428 U.S. 153 (1976), the
Supreme Court decided, with efficient controls, the death penalty could be used
constitutionally. Yet, even with these various controls, the system does not
effectively eliminate racial bias.

    Since Gregg v. Georgia the total population of all 36 death rows has
grown as has the number of judicial controls used by each state. Of the 3,122
people on death row 41% are black while 48% are white (Gest, 1996, 41). This
figure may be acceptable at first glance but one must take into account the fact
that only 12% of the U.S. population is black (Smolowe, 1991, 68). Carolyn
Snurkowski of the Florida attorney generals office believes that the
disproportionate number of blacks on death row can be explained by the fact that,
“Many black murders result from barroom brawls that wouldn't call for the death
penalty, but many white murders occur on top of another offense, such as robbery”
(As cited in Gest, 1986, 25). This may be true but the Washington Legal
Foundation offers their own explanation by arguing that “blacks are arrested for
murder at a higher rate than are whites. When arrest totals are factored in, '
the probability of a white murderer ending up on death row is 33 percent greater
than in the case of a black murderer (As cited in Gest, 1986, 25).

    According to Professor Steven Goldstein of Florida State University, “
There are so many discretionary stages: whether the prosecutor decides to seek
the death pe

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